


Cleaning Revolutions

by ItsaVikingThing



Series: Korrasami Week 2017 [5]
Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: Also some shenanigans, Day 5: Kitchen Shenanigans, F/F, Fluff, Humour, Korrasami Week 2017, kitchen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-21
Updated: 2017-09-21
Packaged: 2019-01-03 19:24:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,824
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12153201
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ItsaVikingThing/pseuds/ItsaVikingThing
Summary: There's a terrible mess in the kitchen.Korra decides that it's her duty to clean it up.Asami's guilty conscience complicates matters...





	Cleaning Revolutions

Asami wakes up.

Korra is beside her, which makes for a good start to the day.

Korra's face down on her pillow. Her lips are slack. She's snoring, and drooling. Patches of her hair stick out at odd angles, one leg hangs off the bed, one arm is curled round her pillow, and the other is thrown across Asami's stomach, a warm and welcome weight.

Korra's a mess.

She's everything.

Asami carefully lifts Korra's arm, and kisses her hand. She slips out of bed, laying Korra's arm gently on the mattress, and pads quietly to the bathroom.

Asami has to go to the office today. There's a lot of work to be done on the latest draft of the contract Future Industries received from Ba Sing Se. They're in the final stages of securing a deal for developing a new transit system for the lower ring of the city. 

It's been nearly ten long days and very lonely nights. Korra was busy dealing with a border dispute elsewhere in the Earth Kingdom.

She just got back last night, late, and there hasn't really been time for...anything. Just the welcome pleasure of sleeping beside her wife.

Asami's determined to make up for that tonight.

Asami washes, dresses, and goes to the kitchen.

She stops on the threshold, awestruck.

It's been a hazy week or two, with too much work and worry, but even so, the scale of the crisis in the kitchen is breathtaking.

It would appear that every single dish they own is dirty. Every plate, cup, piece of cutlery, teapot, and conceivable utensil has been used and abandoned.

Their kitchen has become a graveyard for the remains of meals eaten and beverages drunk.

Asami calculates the effort that would be required to reach the teapot nearest the surface of the detritus without disturbing anything else. She considers how difficult it will be to clear enough room to work with in the sink. She factors in the amount of time that would be required to remove the old leaves and scour the pot.

 _Maybe_ she has time to make tea...

Asami takes a step into the kitchen.

That's when she notices a mysterious blob encrusted along the side and near the spout of the kettle, and reaches her conclusion.

Asami bows her head, as a sign of respect for the fallen, and closes the kitchen door behind her.

She's forced to leave before Korra wakes up. She leaves a kiss on Korra's brow, a note on her pillow, and a mess that was once a kitchen.

She leaves with the beginnings of an idea for a new Future Industries product, too.

Asami picks up breakfast on her way to the office. While she eats, she goes to work sketching preliminary designs for a mechanical system for cleaning dishes.

She thinks about Korra, and the mess in the kitchen, and feels quietly guilty.

* * *

Korra wakes up, which is never one of her favourite activities.

Asami's gone, which makes it that much worse.

There's a note on her pillow, and a lingering trace of her scent in the air. Korra enjoys the latter for a minute before reaching for the former.

The note reads:

_Good morning, wife!_

_I couldn't bear to wake you. Experience has shown it's wiser not to try, too. The kitchen is a bit of a mess, so maybe go out for breakfast? I'll clean it up later!_

_Love,_

_Asami_

_Your wife who loves you_

Korra considers the situation. There's license here to do nothing. Nothing at all. That's...appealing...

Korra groans. "I could do it. I could lie here all day, until Asami gets back. You can't stop me, world."

The world chooses not to call her bluff with anything more dramatic than the emptiness in her belly. 

Korra wonders if she can just sleep until Asami gets back, and get dinner with her.

Her stomach protests that plan, laying out its argument with volume and eloquence.

Korra huffs, "Fiiiine. I'll get up."

She may as well deal with the kitchen. She's got the day to herself, and she doesn't want Asami to come home tired and feeling like she has to clean up a mess.

There are more important ways to spend their time together.

Korra hauls herself out of bed. She yawns, rubs her scalp, and stretches, listening to her bones click and her joints creak.

It's been a stressful couple of weeks, full of Avatar stuff. Unfortunately, it's the kind of Avatar stuff that involves listening to people argue about stupid things while pretending that they're not stupid.

Korra's...still learning that last part.

Korra pushes that thought aside. She's home. There's no need to be the Avatar for a while.

Now's the time to be Korra. Time to pick up Naga, and take her for a walk. Time to catch up with Mako, Bolin, Opal, Tenzin, Pema, the kids -- though Jinora really isn't a kid anymore, and that's another thing she needs to remember -- and...everyone.

But mostly time to kiss Asami, and hold Asami, and be held, and talk, and laugh, and make up for ten days not spent telling Asami that she loves her. A whole week and a half that could have been spent showing Asami how much Korra loves her.

Korra's looking forward to that part.

Korra runs through a light morning routine of stretching and katas. She gets washed and dressed.

She heads to the kitchen. She opens the door. Her jaw drops.

There isn't a surface in sight that isn't covered in soiled kitchenware, except, at first glance, the floor.

Korra rubs her eyes. It doesn't help. She takes a tentative step into the room, slightly concerned about how high some of the piles of dishes are.

More careful inspection reveals that the highest towers of plates and cups have been carefully buttressed with pots, pans, and collanders.

Korra blinks. "We have more than one collander? Huh!"

The head of a spatula has been wedged in between a pair of teapots. The base of the handle has been squeezed through the handle on the side of a pot. The shaft of the spatula is restraining a jumble of teacups.

Further evidence of Asami's engineering genius abounds in the way she's used knives, forks, and chopsticks to build a frame in the sink to allow her to stack plates to a height that's roughly four times the depth of the sink.

Korra looks at the kettle. 

She takes a cautious step back from the kettle.

Korra shakes her head. "We don't have this much stuff, do we? Has she been buying more stuff? How did all of this happen in just over a _week_?"

Korra decides that the responsible thing to do is to clean everything up now and mock Asami about this for the rest of her life.

Korra goes into the kitchen with the best of intentions. She fully intends to tidy up by hand.

But after two steps her _foot_ comes into contact with an unnoticed plate on the floor, and something sticky and unpleasant squishes between her toes.

Korra scowls. She glares at the dishes around her. "So that's how it is? You just messed with the wrong Avatar, kitchen."

Korra hops to the bathroom, grumbling under her breath. She cleans her foot in the bath, under running water. Then she puts in the plug, and fills the tub.

"I am the master of all four elements. I will not be beaten by a dirty plate." Korra pauses. "I've also been away too long. I should probably stop talking to myself."

While the water is running, Korra grabs a bunch of clean towels from the closet, and spreads them out on the living room floor.

When the tub is full, Korra grins. "This is going to save so much time. I wish I'd thought of it sooner!"

She scowls at herself in the mirror. Then she shrugs. She can stop talking to herself when Asami gets back.

Korra waterbends the entire contents of the tub, and guides the water through their apartment, towards the kitchen.

"Dishes? You're about to get balanced _so hard_."

* * *

Guilt is perhaps the most corrosive substance Asami is aware of.

The thought of Korra alone, dealing with Asami's mess, is too much for her.

It eats at her through her morning meetings, until it gets to the point that she has to do something about the situation.

When she has a spare two minutes, Asami calls Bolin.

He doesn't answer until after the fifth ring. He _never_ answers until after at least the fourth, though, so that people know how busy he is.

Asami says, "Hey, Bolin! "

"Asami! How're things? Because, y'know I'm _craaaazy_ busy."

Asami smiles. Given the eagerness he's trying so hard to conceal, and the faint scrabbling and sloshing sounds she can hear in the background, she has a fair idea of exactly how busy he isn't today.

She says, "Well, I'm swamped right now myself, but I was really hoping for a favour."

"Oh, wow, yeah, I'm swamped, too. Bogged. Marshed, even. So much...waterlogged earth going on over here. Yeah...what favour, though? Something fun?"

"Well, Korra's back, and-"

"Korra? Great, say no more! I'm on it!"

"Uh, well, I was just going to ask if you could take her out to lunch?"

"Oh...that's an even better idea!"

Asami decides not to ask _what_ it's a better idea than.

"Korra's had a rough week, so she _might_ still be sleeping. Just be-"

"It's fine, I still have my spare key! I'll let myself in. I'll keep her entertained for you, don't worry!"

"Uh, well...thanks, Bo. But finish giving Pabu his bath first, or Opal will be mad at both of us."

"How did you...? Asami, have you figured out how to see through phones, now?!"

"No, Bo. I just know what Pabu sounds like when confronted with a large volume of water. I owe you. Talk to you later!"

Asami goes back to work, confident that Korra's going to get looked after. The kitchen she can deal with later.

* * *

Korra bends a stream of water into the living room. Riding in it are several plates and forks. She bends the water away, gently dropping each cleaned item onto one of the towels she laid on the floor.

The dishes are helpless before her onslaught.

Oh, those teacups thought that they could trick her when she pried the spatula loose, and throw themselves at the floor when she wasn't looking.

But they fell into a waiting pool of water, got scrubbed, and deposited neatly on the living room floor.

All without spilling a drop of water on the carpet.

Korra dismantles Asami's fortifications bit by bit, transferring cleaned pots and plates to the living room while she tries to expose, and clean, the work surfaces.

She keeps away from the kettle, though. She might need the Avatar state to deal with that.

"How could I have not seen this before? This changes everything about chores! This is...this is the future! "

Korra gasps. Her eyes widen. "This is what it must be like for Asami, _all the time_!"

Korra doesn't hear the key turning in the lock.

She _does_ hear Bolin saying, "Pabu, no!"

Korra looks out through the kitchen door, hands moving automatically to keep the water and its cargo of teapots and bowls aloft.

"Bolin? Oh, Pa _bu_..."

Pabu has leapt from Bolin's shoulder and rushed through the living room, scampering over the clean dishes on the floor.

At the sight of Korra, or, more likely, several gallons of water floating in the air behind her, Pabu squeaks, and runs for the bedroom, leaving pawprints and the odd tuft of fur on the now less than gleaming ceramics.

Korra groans, "I just got done washing all those!" Korra raises her voice and says, "Come in, Bolin! Just mind your feet! "

Bolin says something Korra doesn't make out.

He's drowned out by a bark.

Korra gasps. "N-Naga? Wait, Bolin! Don't-"

Two thousand pounds of excited polar bear dog bounds into the living room.

Plates crack, pots crumple, and two hitherto unknown garlic crushers are crushed.

Naga's tongue lolls out, her eyes are bright, and happy. She squeezes through the kitchen door and barrels into Korra, barking and licking at any part of Korra she can reach.

Korra ends up on her back on the floor.

A bathtub's worth of water follows her down, dousing Korra and Naga, and spattering the whole kitchen.

The crockery within the water shatters when it hits the floor. Pieces of exploded ceramic rattle off the kitchen cabinets, and hit stacks of dirty dishes whose bulwarks Korra has stripped away.

Korra, underneath Naga, gasps, "Naga-"

A pile of dishes topples from the counter.

Naga jumps, startled, and her tail takes down another stack of pots. An errant paw flattens a sauce pan.

Korra reaches up and grabs Naga's neck. She pats Naga's side, saying, "It's okay, girl. It's okay."

Naga settles.

Bolin peers nervously round the doorframe. "H-hey, Korra...I, uh...I brought Naga?"

Korra sighs. Naga licks her face.

"Bolin. Why. Why this, Bolin?"

"Well, I figured you would want to see Naga, but I didn't want to wake you...I didn't, did I?"

Korra, still lying on the floor and being industriously licked, stares at him. She sighs and pats Naga's belly. "No, Bolin. You didn't wake me."

"Okay, good!" Bolin rubs his jaw as he considers the scene. "Hmm. You know, not to criticise, but I think you'd have an easier time cleaning this up with a broom, Korra."

Naga sneezes. She shakes herself vigorously, dislodging water from her fur, and the last intact pile of crockery on top of the kitchen table crashes to the floor.

Bolin looks at Korra. "I'll...go find a broom." He winces. "And a mop."

* * *

The first thing Asami notices when she gets home is a shard of what was once her favourite teapot in a corner of the living room.

The second thing she notices are the sounds coming from the kitchen. She can hear Korra and Bolin arguing about something.

The third thing she notices is the faint, but tenacious scent of wet polar bear dog.

Asami groans. She opens the kitchen door.

Korra and Bolin whirl round and gape at her.

Bolin says, "Asami! You're here! Where you live! So that's...not surprising..."

Korra tries, "Heeeeyyy...yeah, so _crazy_ thing. Remember how we talked about getting all new kitchen stuff?"

The kitchen is mostly spotless, which is nice.

It's also mostly empty, which is less nice.

Asami says, "Naga broke _everything_?"

Korra slumps. "Almost? It's a bit more complicated than that, but...we still have a spatula!"

Asami blinks when she realises something else is missing. "Even the kettle's gone?"

Korra and Bolin exchange a look. 

Bolin nods, solemnly. "She needs to know."

Korra bites her lip. She crosses to Asami, placing her hand on Asami's shoulder. "I metalbent it out into the yard. Bolin lavabent it out of existence. It...was the right thing to do."

Asami thinks it over. She can't find fault in that part of their decision-making process, at least. "I'm sorry I let things get so messy. I've just been so busy!"

"I'm sorry I haven't been here. Aaaand that I let everything get broken. Though I have invented an amazing bending technique that could revolutionise cleaning!"

"Oh, I drew up some blueprints for a machine washer. We'll be mocking one up soon. I think it could be big!"

"Oh." Korra deflates. "Right. That's a better idea."

Asami kisses her cheek. "Cheer up! We still have a spatula!"

Korra smiles. "And a cup, a cheese knife, and _two_ collanders!"

"Who needs anything else?"

"So...shopping trip tomorrow?"

"Contract's done. I can take the day off."

Korra grins. "Sounds perfect."

They kiss.

When they separate, Bolin wraps them both up in a hug. "Aww, you guys are the best!"

Korra and Asami exchange a look. Korra nods, smirking.

Asami says, "But for tonight, I guess we're dining out! Bolin, your treat, right?"

"Huh?" He backs away.

Korra pokes him in the chest. "This is an Avatar decree. This is basically your fault, and..." Korra's eyes widen. "I haven't eaten yet. I'm so _hungry_."

Bolin groans. "Fine! But you guys are the _worst_."

Asami laughs and kisses Korra again. "Let's go feed my poor, starving Avatar."

* * *

They do, and they drag Opal and Mako out, too.

It turns into a perfect night.

Right up until they go home, and find Pabu ready to defend the nest he's made in their bed.

Korra and Asami sleep on the couch. Its disadvantage, that there's so little room, is outweighed by its advantage: there's so little room.

Spending the night in each others' arms isn't the worst fate in the world.

They still make Bolin buy them breakfast in the morning.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks very much for keeping reading even more of the things!
> 
> Tomorrow: A tale of Korra sleeping, and the friends who watch out for her while she does.


End file.
